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14 Day Sun Pickles {Granny's Recipe}

14 Day Sun Pickles, homemade dill pickles tailored to suit your taste, just not the traditional canning method. Simple pickling method that leaves you with a fantastic crunchy cucumber.

Summer is here in East Texas, and cucumbers are beginning to make in the gardens. One of my favorite summer traditions at my house growing up was making 14 Day Sun Pickles with my Mother.
If she did not grow cucumbers, she would buy some from nearby farmers. These pickles are so easy to make, and they are incredibly delicious. They have a distinct taste, and if you don't watch it, they can even be addicting.

With us having 100 degree temperatures here in East Texas, it is perfect for making some. One of the neat things about this recipe is that you can make one jar or 12 jars at a time, depending on how many cucumbers you have. You simply pack your jars with cucumbers lengthwise. Add a fresh sprig of dill, one garlic bud, one small hot pepper (optional), and a teaspoon of dill seeds. Pour a solution of water, vinegar, and salt over the cucumbers and seal.

Here comes the unique way to process them. You put them in the hottest part of your yard in a single row and leave them there for 14 days! If it rains one day, you leave them out there an extra day (even if it rains a half a day; leave an extra half a day). The heat of the sun during the day and then the cooling down at night causes the lids to seal. You store them on a shelf until you are ready to serve them or set a jar in the refrigerator to chill before you serve them.

Last summer my sister brought us a home cooked meal on our first weekend home from being in the hospital off and on for six months. And as you can see, she brought me a jar of pickles. We floundered ourselves over this wonderful meal and savored every bite.

14 Day Sun Pickles

Ingredients: In the jarcanning jars that have been boiled in hot water and drained (quart or pints depending on size of your cucumbers)2-3 garlic buds1 small hot pepper (optional)1 fresh dill head with stem1 teaspoon dill seed

Directions: In the jar
Place all above ingredients in each jar: Now add cucumbers in jars until jar is packed. Combine, but do not heat:

Directions:Pickling SolutionPour liquid over cucumbers, garlic, etc. Seal with lids that have heated in hot water. Set outside in the sun and leave for 14 days. Store on shelf and refrigerate before serving.

Note: You can adjust the salt to your taste. I have had some feedback that they use 2/3 cup. Make additional vinegar solution as needed for how many jars is needed.

You do not have to water bath them...the heat from the sun does that for you. If you don't live where it is hot right now then wait until you have some 90+ degree weather and they will do great. I remember Mother would always make hers around the 4th of July when it got really hot here in Texas....hope this helps!

My mother used to make these pickles every year. When I was a senior in high school, a baby skunk somehow got in our house, and it was during pickle making season. My mother put a trail of her 14-day pickles to the door. The skunk ate them one by one, and that is how he left, without leaving a stink behind.

These remind me of my Aunt Irene's. I always wished she would teach me to make them, so I am going to try yours. Visiting, and now following via Welcome Wednesday hop...hop over to mine and follow back if you like it... http://mom4realky.blogspot.com

I live in Phoenix. We are having 100+ degree weather with lows in the 80s. Is that too hot to make these pickles? Do I wait a shorter amount of time? Am I just being crazy? Should I just follow the recipe as stated? I just pinned this to my Pinterest board for retrieval later! Thanks for sharing!

I'm originally from North Louisiana where we make every kind of pickle in every way possible; but, I've never heard of sun pickles! What a great idea! I'm in New Hampshire now and it seems that the sun rarely shines here....at least this summer. I would love to give these a try. Thanks so much for sharing!

Hi Kay,What a great Pickle recipe. With the sun we have been having it would be no problem to make these pickles. Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday, I look forward to seeing you again soon! Miz Helen

Thrilled to find another pickle fan! Thanks so much for stopping by Momtrends Friday Food (http://www.momtrends.com/2011/06/friday-food-farmers-classic-pickle-event/) and adding this recipe. Have a great weekend.

Your pickle recipe sounds identical to mine, my friend! Nothing like homemade pickles!!! But I must admit, this is the first time I have ever heard of setting the jars of pickles outside...using the heat to seal them! How interesting!

Thanks for sharing your recipe with us for the Sunday Favorites repost party this week! Mmmm...would love a homemade pickle right now! Hehe!

What an interesting recipe! I've never heard of sun pickles either! I love old family recipes, they are the best. Thank you for sharing this with Let's Do Brunch. Hope to 'see' you there again this week.

Botulism only grows in low-acid environments. With all of the vinegar in this recipe there's no need to worry about botulism. If anything there might be a little fermenting going on but that would be a good thing.

If my pickles got too big too fit can I cut them up first? Also, if i don't have fresh herbs can I used dried? Do the jars and lids absolutely have to be boiled? I just don't want extra heat or work if I don't need it. :)

How many hour of actual sun do they need each day? My deck gets the morning sun until around 12-1 p.m. Would you just need to leave them longer than the 14 days? This sounds like a really cool idea. Thanks!

Hi Lana ~ I think that that much sun is ok and I would not leave them out there longer than 14 days unless it rains...I put mine in the yard where the sun is shaded part of the day and they do fine. Hope this helps. And let me know what you think when you make some!

It maybe the ratio of the vinegar and salt in your recipe. The sun during the day gets so hot inside the jar that it cooks the cucumbers and then the night cools them down and it starts all over the next day. By the end of the 14 days the jars seal. I have had a few that didn't and we eat them first. I don't know if you grew up when big jars of pickles set out on the counter top in old country stores. They were never refrigerated and were delicious.

Never heard of this! Way cool! I can't wait to grow more cukes and try it. This year for the first time I made Claussen Chill Dill Clone Pickles. They are naturally fermented with just a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar and water and salt. You leave them for about 4 days or until they are as sour as you want them, then you must refrigerate them. I put up gallons of my cukes this way, and people got downright rude about eating my darn pickles up! LOL. No one could believe how much they tasted like the real Mccoy!